James O'Connor (Cork East, Fianna Fail)
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222. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he will outline the number of passport applications from Cork that have been processed to date in 2025; the plans to hire extra staff for the passport office ahead of the summer season; if the passport office will be working during the weekends to relieve the pressures of applications ahead of the summer season; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23112/25]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The Passport Service is successfully responding to the current level of demand for passports and has issued over 390,000 passports and passport cards to date this year.

To date this year we have received 26,997 online applications from Cork – 22,271 of these have been fully processed and dispatched. Virtually all complete passport applications are being processed within or before advertised turnaround times and over half of adult renewal applications are processed within 2 working days.

My Department undertakes extensive advance workforce planning based on forecasted demand for passports on an annual basis. The staff requirement to meet forecasted demand for the coming year is signed off annually by the Department's Management Board. As a result of this planning the Passport Service is well-resourced to meet forecasted demand for 2025.

From 2020 to 2025, the number of staff in the Passport Service has increased from 615 to 862, a significant increase in staffing. Ensuring that we have enough staff to respond to demand is a key priority for my Department and is kept under constant review.

The first half of the year is busiest time for the Passport Service and to meet the demand of this busy season, 129 Temporary Clerical Officers (TCOs) have joined the Passport Service since 20 November 2024. These officers work on processing passports and assisting customers who contact the Customer Service Hub. The Passport Service continually reviews demand and offers overtime, on a voluntary basis, to staff when necessary to meet demand.

I would ask the Deputy to encourage his constituents to apply for their passports through Passport Online, as the quickest, easiest and most cost effective way to apply for a passport. The Passport Online service allows citizens to apply online for their passport 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Passport Online is available to 99.9% of all applicants globally. As a matter of best practice, applicants should check the validity of their passport before booking travel.